


Newt Scamander and the Unknown Child

by the_many_splendored



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, He Doesn't Quite Know Kids, Kink Meme, Newt Knows Beasts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-03 11:15:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8710405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_many_splendored/pseuds/the_many_splendored
Summary: From the Fantastic Beasts Kink Meme:(Newt gets back from America at the end of 1926 - right around when Tom Riddle is born. Two years later Newt tracks some worrying obscurial sightings to a little London orphanage and finds the strangest thing he's ever seen: a boy who's "friends" with the obscurial forming inside him ...becuase the remnents of the love potion his mum gave his dad the night he was concived has been protecting him from exploding in emotional pain, but it also makes him a bb!psychopath. Newt has to cure the effects of the potion AND fix the budding obscurial issue and somehow became "Uncle Newt" along the way. Possibly with help from Tina, Queenie and Jacob (let's assume they decided to run off and open a bakery in London). Bonus: many years later, 15 year old Tom Scamander finds the Chamber of Secrets. No deaths. No murderous rampage. Lots of naturalist enthusiasm and trying to fit the massive serpent into his suitcase.)





	1. Prologue

_New Year’s Day, 1929_

The dark-haired toddler looking up at Newt has an awareness about him that would unnerve the magizooligist if he didn’t know already what he was dealing with. The boy isn’t misbehaving, in fact, Newt knows Tina would say he’s quite cute and well-mannered for being all of two years and a day. “Tom’s a good little soul, he is, Dr. Scamander,” the orphanage manager says (Newt figured telling her was a physician was the easiest explanation). “He’s just been having these strange accidents – thank God, no one’s been hurt.”

Newt doesn’t look the young Muggle woman in the eye, but he offers a brief smile that he hopes is reassuring. “That’s exactly what I wish to prevent, Mrs. Cole.” Turning back to the child, he waves reassuringly. “Hello, Tom.” Tom waves back, but his face is far too solemn for his age. “Mrs. Cole said yesterday was your birthday; is that right?” The child nods firmly but without smiling.

Now comes the tough part. “Did you have someone to celebrate with you?”

At this question, Tom perks up. “My friend with me…”

“Friend?” Newt asks. “Is this the one Mrs. Cole told me about? He likes to get you in trouble some times?”

Tom nods again. “Uh-huh…he fun!”

Newt would keel over in shock if he weren’t so interested. “Can we meet him?” He looks quickly over to Mrs. Cole and indicates for her to step behind him. Yes, she’s witnessed the results of Tom’s Obscurial outbursts before, but he’d still rather be between her and direct contact with the creature. Thankfully she catches his meaning and positions herself in the doorway of Tom’s room.

When the Obscurus comes, there’s no violent outburst as with the Sudanese girl. Quite simply, one moment, Newt, Tom and Mrs. Cole are the only ones in the room; the next, a black cloud has appeared and is hovering over Tom protectively as if it expects Newt to attack the boy. Behind him, Mrs. Cole blinks hard, wondering if it’s a trick of the light.

Newt looks up at the Obscurus and speaks to it directly. “I’m not here to hurt you or the boy, I promise,” he says. “Would you two be willing to come with me? I’ll make sure you’re both safe.” The creature grumbles, but retreats into Tom’s body without further trouble.

Newt signs the adoption paperwork that very day.


	2. Picking Truth From Lies

_June 20, 1933_

“Dad, do you love Aunt Tina?” Tom asks the question respectfully, but Newt is still taken aback at how forward he’s being.  He turns away from the Occamy egg he’s inspecting so that he can look his son in the eye.

“Why do you ask, Tom?”

Tom M. Scamander is 6 and a half now, and while he has flourished under his adoptive father’s care, the presence of the Obscurus seems to have given the lad knowledge of things that a child shouldn’t yet know.  Just last week, when Tina, Queenie and Jacob were visiting for Newt’s birthday, Tom had looked directly at Queenie and said, “Auntie Q, you and Uncle Jacob are having a baby – my friend told me.”  To her credit, Queenie had barely winced at the statement, but had smiled dotingly at her godson.  “That’s right, Tom – your friend is very perceptive.”  Later, she pulled Newt aside and told him she could almost hear a second voice in Tom’s head.

“My friend told me. You know he always tells me things, Dad.” Tom’s voice is as matter-of-fact as if he were describing the weather on a nice day. “He says you look at Aunt Tina like you’re imagining what she’d look like in a white dress….and with a baby.” At this, the boy’s voice trembles. “He’s worried you won’t want us anymore if you and Aunt Tina have a child…” The slightest black mist is starting to seep from his fingers.

Newt kneels to Tom’s level and gives him a sturdy hug. “I would never leave the two of you, not in a million years, no matter whom I love or marry.  I do love your Aunt – that part’s true.”  Newt has learned over the last four years to never lie in Tom’s presence. If Tom feels that someone is insulting his intelligence, he gets an enraged look on his face that Newt knows is the precursor to an Obscurial outburst.  “If I thought she’d say yes, I’d marry her in an instant.”

This seems to calm the boy, and the mist around his fingers starts to dissipate. “Ok, Dad – I believe you.”

Newt smiles. “Thank you, Tom. I do want to tell you something though.” Tom looks at him expectantly. “Your friend tells you these things because he wants to protect you – but that doesn’t mean he always quite understands what’s going on. Because he has Dark magic, he often worries too much and expects people to hurt him.  If you have any questions about something he says to you, promise you’ll do like you did today and come ask me?”

Tom nods solemnly.  “I promise.”


	3. Chapter 3

_October 31, 1933_

“Tom! TOM!” The voices of almost everyone in the wedding party echo through the night as Newt, Tina and almost all the others go searching through the woods.  About fifteen minutes ago, Queenie realized she hadn’t seen Tom anywhere at the wedding reception, and in a panic, all the guests magicked themselves out of their wedding finery to find the boy.

Newt and Tina are naturally leading the way to look for their son, but as Newt pulls his bride along by the hand, he’s grateful they’re not alone.  Queenie and Jacob have led another group south, and Bob Ogden, one of Newt’s acquaintances from his Ministry days, has called in other members of Magical Law Enforcement to help scour the area.

“I hope he didn’t run away,” Tina says mournfully. Newt had been sure to tell her about Tom’s fears so that she’d be sensitive about it, but at the same time, her worry that Tom will always think of her as an evil stepmother interfering with him and his father has never quite gone away.

Newt squeezes her hand more tightly, his wand in the other hand with a lit Lumos charm. “I promise that’s not it, love – you know he likes to wander. TOM!” he calls out again, but the only response he gets is the hooting of an owl.

Suddenly, he hears Bob call out, “Newt! Tina! We found him! Over here!” The two run towards Bob’s voice, and in a nearby clearing, they see Tom sitting serenely on Bob’s knee.  The policeman is helping Tom dust off, but other than the dirt, the boy seems no worse for wear.

Newt manages to keep his voice from shaking when he hugs Tom and asks, “Son? What were you doing out here? Did your friend tell you to do this?”

Tom shakes his head. “No – at least I don’t think so.  I heard someone out here and wanted to see what was wrong.”

Tina has been shaking Bob’s hand in gratitude, but at that last part, she turns to Tom and asks him seriously, “What do you mean wrong, Tom? Is someone hurt?”

Tom looks very thoughtful as he tries to explain. “It was right after Auntie Q opened that bubbly stuff for you and Dad – I heard this little voice say ‘ **Oh that’s too much noise, why all this noise?** ’ I turned around, but I couldn’t see anyone.  Then it said ‘ **I’m leaving, it’s too loud here!** ’ and I just kept following it because it sounded like they were getting far away.”  He suddenly stands upright in shock: “There it is again!”

All three adults have their wands drawn in an instant, and Tina pulls Tom close to her to protect him.  The boy points to a hollow beneath a tree: “It’s under there!” Newt crouches down – and to his relief, he only sees a mother snake and her eggs.  He’s about to put his wand away when he hears his son hissing furiously at the creature as if he’s telling her to piss off.

Bob’s eyes go wide behind his glasses, and he and Newt share a look of astonishment over Tom’s head.  In a calm voice, Newt asks, “Tom, what was that you just said?”

“I told her to go away, she said she was going to bite you! Mum, didn’t I say that?!” Tom looks up at his stepmother, his eyes making it clear he has no idea what he just did.

“Of course you did, dear,” Tina reassures him. “Don’t worry, she won’t hurt your father. He’ll make sure she and the eggs are safe; you and I will just go back to the party, all right?”  She pulls his hand gently, and Tom reluctantly walks away with her.

Once they leave the clearing, Bob huffs in shock.  “Never thought I’d see that again in my lifetime.  What did you say his last name was before you adopted him?”

“Riddle – what does it matter?” Newt asks, dusting the dirt off of his pants.

“Oh Merlin’s _**BEARD**_ ,” Bob says, “it can’t be – what was his mother’s name?”

“The matron of the orphanage called her Merope – Bob, you’re not making any sense, and I don’t like guessing games.”

“I’m not guessing, Newt,” Bob says seriously.  “If your son’s parents are who I think they are, and he can talk to snakes – Newt, I think your son is a Gaunt by blood.  He might be the last living descendant of Salazar Slytherin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who might not remember, Bob met Tom's grandfather, mother and uncle briefly, and also bumped into Tom's father, as shown in a flashback in "Half-Blood Prince".


	4. Age-Appropriate Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For context - Tom knows he's adopted, but doesn't know who his bio-family is.

_December 31, 1933_

It takes some convincing, but when Tom’s 7th birthday comes, Tina is just as excited about his birthday present as Newt was when he first suggested the idea. While Newt makes final party arrangements, Tina takes the large book and reads the hand-inked inscription one more time:

“ _ **For Tom – because every boy should know his family. Bob Ogden**_ ”

Tina smiles to herself, and the present self-wraps with a flick of her wand. She stores the present safely in the cabinet outside the dining room. After the incident at the wedding, Bob had contacted every genealogical expert he could find as a favor to her and Newt, and the result is the beautiful volume in question. She can’t wait to see Tom’s face when he reads through it.

The clock strikes five, and Tom comes running from his room in a burst of joy, the Obscurus zipping along behind him like a little thunder-cloud.  “It’s time for the party!” he crows, “I’ve been waiting all day!”

Tina chuckles a bit, though the idea that the Obscurus can manifest from happiness as well as anger still shocks her. “I hope you know how proud of you two I am, dear – you’ve been very patient.”

“They certainly have been,” Newt says as he carries in a large plate of roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. “I wasn’t sure I was going to have this done in time.”  He puts the food on the table and scoops Tom into a large hug. “Happy birthday, son!”

Tom hugs his father back, but Tina can see that the boy is eyeing the dinner with ravenous hunger. “Let’s sing and get eating, shall we?” she offers.

After dinner and several slices of a truly excellent lemon tart, Tom gets to open his presents.  Queenie and Jacob couldn’t travel due to her pregnancy, but they’ve sent along a small children’s broomstick that Tom’s been excited about, and Theseus has sent a small package of interesting candies that he and Newt liked when they were boys.  Tom’s enthusiastic about both of these, but when Tina pulls Bob’s present from the shelf, her son’s eyes go as wide as dinner plates. “Mum,” he asks in wonderment, “is that mine?? What is it?”

“It is,” she says with a smile. “Go ahead and open it.”

Tom tries to take his time with the wrapping paper, but his excitement quickly gets the better of him and he rips the tissue with abandon, not stopping until the heavy book lands with a _THUMP_ in his lap. He flips the cover open, and confusion crosses his face when he doesn’t see any words besides the inscription. “Why’s it blank?” he asks.

Tina looks at her husband as if to ask, “Will you do the honors?” Newt picks up the hint and pats his lap. “Come sit with me and I’ll show you,” he says.  Tom does just that, and once he’s situated, Newt explains, “This is a story-book, but it’s a very special one that Mr. Ogden had made just for you. Everything listed in it is true, at least as far as he knows. Revelio.” He waves his wand, and the book starts to fill in. Tom hugs his father tightly, his eyes scanning carefully as the first page slowly starts to show a sketch.  The picture is of a young woman with slightly unfocused eyes. Tom is about to ask who it is when the caption is written: “ _ **Merope Audrina Gaunt. September 1, 1907 – December 31, 1926**_.”

“Do you want to keep reading?” Newt asks.  Tom nods quietly, and for the rest of the evening, the Scamanders read slowly and surely over the history of Tom’s biological family.


End file.
